Camping
by Mayai18
Summary: Sakura invites all her friends to come camping with her for a couple days to get out of the village for awhile. Meanwhile romance blossoms and true feelings come out.
1. The Invite

This is my first story and I don't write much, so this is new to me, especially writing a fanfic for Naruto. I got this idea from a drawing I saw and it sounded like a good opportunity to write my own story out of it. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters.**

* * *

"Hey Naruto!" A pink haired ninja comes up behind him

"What is it Sakura-chan?" Naruto asks.

"Everyone is going camping for a couple of days, we were hoping you would join us."

"Who all is going?"

"Well you will find out if you get ready by noon," She replied sarcastically.

Naruto slouched a bit and sighed at the statement. "Fine, I'll be ready. Where is everyone going to meet?"

"The training grounds." And with that she walked away. He watched her walk away as she met up with Ino and Kiba a ways down the street.

Naruto continued walking down the street, hands behind his head and looking around to see the hustle and bustle of the day starting. Naruto decided to get some training in before he left for a couple of days so he made his way over to the training grounds. When he got there, he saw Hinata and Neji hard at work training with each other.

"Hey Neji, Hinata!" He shouted loudly while waving his hand in the air so that they would notice him. Hinata stopped and turned to the voice that said hello. Her cheeks turned pink when she realized is was Naruto with his adorable smile and he was watching her train.

"N-naruto-kun," she stuttered. Completely defenseless against Neji, he hit her full on with his 8 trigrams vacuum palm and she got blown backwards into the green grass. Surprised by the sudden attack, she didn't have time to defend herself as she let out a little scream as she went flying through the air and landed on her back. Neji released his attack pose and stood up straight and said sternly, "Hinata-sama you've got to pay attention."

Naruto, seeing hinata flying through the air, took him back to the memory of her flying through the air and being stabbed by Pain when he attacked Konoha and he suddenly felt the urge to run to her aid to see if she was alright and unhurt.

"Hinataaaaa!" He yelled while running towards her.

She slowly got up and by that time Naruto was by her side. "Are you alright Hinata?" He took her shoulders so she would look at him. Hinata looked up and saw Naruto, just inches from her face and she could feel her face get cherry red. Her eyes got wide as she saw how concerned he was to see if she was alright. Her heart started beating fast, her heart in her throat, and then she got dizzy and then blacked out, her heard tilted back whilst Naruto still holding her shoulders.

"Gahhh Hinata-sama!" Naruto exclaimed.

Neji then rushed over to Naruto and Hinata to see what else had happened. He saw Naruto holding Hinata's shoulders and he sighed at how typical it was.

"Naruto let go of Hinata-sama."He let go and laid her down on the ground again. Naruto stood up so Neji could wake her up.

"Neji why does she faint so much?"

"Well to put it simply, because of you." He said bluntly.

"What? Me? Why?" Naruto stood flabbergasted at what Neji said.

"If you haven't figured that out by now then you are stupider than I thought. You may be the hero of Konoha and are skilled in battle, but you are horrible with romantic gestures."

Naruto stood still, trying to see what Neji was trying to say but wasn't quite getting it. Neji looked up at Naruto and saw that he had a blank look on his face and closed his eyes and made a deep sigh.

"Why don't you keep thinking about it and leave since Hinata is still out cold."

Neji finally said. Naruto, feeling glum left the field and traveled farther out to train by himself, still trying to comprehend what Neji was talking about. 'What would Hinata have to do with him? Was he really a bad person? He liked Hinata, she was sweet, cute, quiet, and pretty...wait what?' Why had he said that. He stood puzzled at himself. His mind then thought over to training, abandoning his train of thought for the time being. He made a a few dozen clones of himself and starting battling against himself.

* * *

A few hours went by and by then he was feeling sweaty and his stomach began to growl loudly..."RAMEN!" He shouted into the air. He made his way back into the village and into Ichiraku. He entered the shop and ordered a huge bowl of ramen, his stomach growling even more in the anticipation. After a couple minutes his delicious food arrived and he devoured it in minutes. He paid and left the shop to go back to his apartment, take a shower and meet everyone back at the training grounds for camping. An hour later he was ready and out the door with his bag which was filled with clothes, snacks, and some weapons if it was needed. He felt in a good mood as he strolled through the village streets and to the field, the wind was blowing a warm breeze and the birds were singing.

When he got there he saw Ino, Choji, Sai, Sakura, Neji, Tenten, Shikamaru, Kiba, Akamaru, Lee, and Hinata. He looked Hinata up and down seeing that she was alright from earlier. He smiled and he walked over to where the group was huddled and chatting while waiting for him to arrive.

"Hey you made it Naruto." Kiba stated.

"Good, now that we are all here we can move out." Sakura said eagerly.

"Where are we even going Sakura?" Shikamaru asked.

"I found a spot on a hill where we can camp and see the village below, it's not that far. Oh and there is a pond not far either, its perfect." Everyone started getting giddy after hearing that there was somewhere to swim nearby.

"Why are we even going camping?" Sai said with as much enthusiasm as a brick.

"I figured that we all needed a break from the village and missions for a while. It'll be fun and who knows what might happen." Sakura added mysteriously.

After that, everybody started hiking up the trail and following Sakura, and Naruto fell into the back. He saw Neji and Tenten chatting up a storm and occasionally laughing at something Neji said, Shikamaru was with Kiba, Akamaru, and Choji with Shikamaru arguing with something that Kiba was saying and Choji loudly eating a bag of chips. Ino was up in the front alongside Sakura and Sai with Lee, telling him to calm down about youth. Then eventually his eyes fell upon Hinata who was walking alone quietly behind Neji and Tenten. He looked at her purple hair and curvy figure and felt something inside him stir with emotion. 'Was that because of what Neji said earlier?' He thought. 'No can't be.' After his little inter-mono-log, he decided to jog and catch up to her so they both have company. He greeted her with a hello as soon as he caught up with her. Hinata turned her head and saw Naruto walking alongside her and whispered a quiet hello back, her cheeks turning slightly pink. Naruto's hands went behind his head in a relaxed pose and continued walking with her, not saying much. He looked around him, with his friends still talking to one another and then the trees and how nice of a day it was.

"It's a nice day out Hinata." Trying to create a conversation with her.

"Yes N-naruto-kun," She answered back.

"So how did the rest of your training go after I left?"

"Ehhh...oh right. It went fine." Her face got a little brighter. "Sorry I fainted again."

"It's alright, I'm used to it." He stated casually and laughed it off.

His mind began to think about what Neji said to him and began to wonder if it was true, if it was really caused by him. Hinata began smiling at Naruto's laughter even if she thought it was embarrassing of her to faint. She made a mental note to stop doing that, she was supposed to be a stronger person now. "H-how was your training N-naruto?" She made him snap out of his thought process, unsure of what to make of it.

"It was great. I had a great morning." He was surprised she asked him something in turn which made him smile. It became quiet as they ran out of stuff to talk about. After a half an hour of walking through the trail, they reached their camping spot. It was a clear open space with plenty of room to move around and or spar with one another.

"Way to go Sakura-chan. This is way better than I thought, why didn't I think of this before. Next time just Sakura and I should come here. YES that's..." Before Lee could say another word Sakura punched him in the head, causing a bump to show.

"Lee that's not going to happen," Sakura said slightly annoyed.

Lee sat on the ground pleading with Sakura to say yes and Sakura shaking her head, getting more and more annoyed by the second with Lee's pleas. Naruto noticed that she had also set up the tents already, surprised by how ready she was. Naruto went and set his stuff in one of the larger tentswith Choji, Neji, and Shikamaru, following him to put their stuff in as well. There were 3 tents around the area in total. The girls in one, and Sai, Lee, and Kiba in another one. He couldn't wait to get started with the activities.

"So what are we supposed to do now after we put our stuff away?" Sai asked, clearly unaware of the word 'camping'.

"We can do whatever we want now, but it's almost sunset, so we might as well start a fire." Sakura seemed in charge so they all began collecting sticks and piling them to start a fire.

"Did someone bring marshmallows?" Choji asked eagerly. His thought on the food.

"Yes I did," Kiba replied.

The sun started to go down below the horizon as they finished making and building the fire. They all sat around the fire, just looking at the flames and smoke rising into the sky. The stars started to appear one by one until there was thousands of them in the purplish sky. He looked over to Hinata, she seemed out of it and felt the need to accompany her. He got up from his spot and sat besides her.

"N-n-naruto-kun? You don't have to s-sit with m-me." She blushed again in the dark.

"You looked lonely over here and I was too. No harm done." He grinned a big smile at her which made her face turn even redder.

Kiba brought out the marshmallows and Choji was the first one up to grab a handful of them and placed some in his mouth before he put the rest over the fire to cook. Naruto grabbed a couple and placed them on his stick he found and put it over the fire and Hinata soon joined him, smiling at the closeness and also blushing brightly in the process. This could be a good trip they both thought. She has wanted to get close to Naruto lately and this is the perfect opportunity, she smiled at the opportunity before her, excited for the next couple days.


	2. The Beach

Finally done with this chapter! I was on and off working on this and I couldn't decide how to end it haha.

* * *

The following morning, Hinata woke up with a start, not remembering going to bed the night before. She shrugged it off. She did remember sitting with Naruto by the campfire and she could feel her face getting red as she smiled at the memory. She stretched and went outside to feel the fresh morning air on her face and a thick fog had covered the surrounding area, making it look eerie. She heard a rustle from one of the boys tents and out popped Choji, Naruto, and Neji. Neji looked over and saw his cousin and greeted her with a hello.

"Hi Neji," She greeted back warmly.

Naruto glanced up and looked at Hinata and saw her bed head hair an gave a small smirk. Hinata blushed pink and noticed her hair. She immediately dashed back in the tent to straighten her hair and make it presentable. She could hear Neji say to Naruto "Wow, you didn't even have to say anything and she runs away from you."

Naruto make a snarky remark in response. Hinata giggled silently in her tent at their conversation. She appeared moments later with her hair straightened and she headed toward the fire pit to start a fire for breakfast. Naruto looked at her trying to start a fire and went to stand on the opposite side of the pit so she doesn't get a spooked by his presence. He crouches down and looks her in the face and says "Morning Hinata."

Hinata looked up briefly so he doesn't see her red face and quietly says 'morning' back.

"Do you need any help?" He asked.

"I t-think w-we might n-need more f-f-firewood." She managed to stutter.

Naruto nodded and he went to collect more wood so they all could eat. He started picking up wood and couldn't help himself as he looked back as she was getting up and went back into the tent to what he thought was to wake up the others. He felt his mind being pulled in as the Kyuubi apparently wanted something from him. He stood in some water and saw the Kyuubi behind the seal glaring at him with a smirk on his face.

**"Do you like her kid?"**

"Psssh no, why do you ask?" Naruto looked offended.

**"Because you keep staring at her and your actions have changed slightly around her." **

Naruto glanced to the side and grumbled "stupid annoying fox."

**"I HEARD THAT YOU LITTLE BRAT!"** He growled.

"Well you should stop butting into my feelings." Naruto retorted.

**"So you DO like her?"**

"I don't know what I feel at the moment. She is a nice person and I want to be closer friends with her."

**"Why don't you just ask her out? Its obvious to everyone else that she likes ****you." **Naruto snapped his head towards the menacing fox, his eyes wide with astonishment and confusion.

"Why didn't anyone tell me? I didn't think she liked me at all, I thought she was a shy person in general." The Kyuubi sighed, annoyed with Naruto.

**"Neji was right...you really suck with romantic gestures."**

Before Naruto could say anything else, the conversation ended leaving him with a frown on his face. The breeze on his face snapped him back to reality and continued collecting sticks. He heard a loud popping sound of a twig some ways off, then he heard another coming closer each time. Naruto put his senses on high alert and put down the sticks in his hand to make a hand sign to produce a clone of himself. He saw movement behind a tree and he started producing his rasengan and his clone disappeared when he made it. He saw something move in front of the tree and he started rushing toward it full speed and shouted "RASEN-" The shape became Shino. Shino moved last minute out of the way of Narutos attack. Naruto crashed onto the ground, face first, his rasengan making a whole in the ground.

Naruto sprung up and shouted "Shino!"

"Wow, first I wasn't invited and now I am being attacked. What's next?" He replied glumly.

Naruto laughed and put his hand behind his head and said guiltily "Sorry about that Shino. I'll lead you to the camp."

He gathered up his wood and Shino followed him to the camp. By then everyone was up and talking to one another. Everyone turned and looked and shouted Shino's name, welcoming him to put his stuff in one of the tents.

Shino, still stuck on not being invited in the first place said "Why wasn't I invited?" Heads turned to Sakura waiting for her to respond.

"Well last time I checked you were on a mission, I couldn't get a hold of you so quickly." She finally said.

"No one told you when I was coming back?"

"No."

Shino put his head down in sorrow, feeling left out once again.

"But your here now, so lets enjoy now that we are all here." She said to try and cheer him up.

He slowly nodded and set up his stuff in with Sai, lee, and Shikamaru. A half hour later, they were all eating and finishing their breakfast meal. Silence hung around in the air till lee decided to pipe up and say "Who wants to train with me?!" Everyone sighed as they didn't feel like training at the moment. Sai chimed in "I've got nothing better to do." He replied with a smug grin and joined lee to go train with him.

Sakura jolted up with a smile and said "We can always go swimming."

That got everyone's attention. They nodded with enthusiasm and each went back to their tents to change into their suits.

* * *

*Girls tent*

Hinata changed into her swimsuit, hoping it would flattering on her and in front of all the boys, especially Naruto. She heard Tenten squeal with joy as she put hers on.

"I can't wait to show off my suit to Neji." She blushed red as she said it, then turned even redder as she realized she said it out loud. The girls started to laugh at Tentens embarrassing moment.

"Tenten you really like Neji don't you?" Sakura asked.

Tenten stuck out her tongue in response then retorted, "Well Hinata likes Naruto." This made Hinata turn her back while her face turned pink in the process. They all started laughing again as Hinata blushed then turned silent as they got ready.

* * *

The girls came out with some clothes covering up their suits and the boys as well. Sakura led them towards the beach, the smell of fresh water coming off the wind make everyone giddy with excitement. When they reached the sandy shore, the water was glistening from the bright sun, the other side of the lake was visible and some birds were flying over the water looking for some visible fish. Hinata dropped her towel on the sand, taking in the view of the beach.

"Sakura this is beautiful." Ino said excitedly.

Sakura smiled in response and dropped her stuff on the sand too. The boys piled their stuff in a corner and ran towards the water. Choji jumped and did a huge cannonball causing a big wave to appear. That made everyone laugh and the girls joined the boys in the water. Hinata walked cautiously into the water, hugging her breasts, feeling self conscious of herself.

Sakura looked at her and said "Hinata you don't have to hide them. We are all in bikinis and shorts here."

Hinata with a pink face complied and sunk lower to where the water hid them. She looked to see if Naruto was looking and noticed that he wasn't and was glad since she didn't like exposing herself much. She say him laughing with everyone else and that made her smile unknowingly and she looked away so she'd stop looking like a creeper looking at him. Naruto was busy laughing but out of the corner of his eye he saw Hinata come into the water with her bikini on. She didn't look that bad either he had noticed. He decided to leave the conversation he was having and swim slowly over to Hinata. He saw that she immediately took notice of him and turned a pinkish color, which he thought was kind of cute, even if she did that all the time. 'Maybe she did like me?' He thought to himself. He heard the Kyuubi inside him snicker and Naruto rolled his eyes mentally. Hinata, seeing that Naruto was coming closer and closer, began to hug her breasts again and she felt her face getting hot, even in the refreshing cold water.

"Hey Hinata," Naruto said with a small grin.

"N-Naruto-kun..." Was all she could whisper out.

"So I was wondering, if you wanted to come join in with some of us guys other there." Naruto asked, and put his hand behind his head and ruffled it a bit.

"Suureee we would all love to," Ino chimed in to their conversation with a smile. That made the rest of the girls become interested as well.

"Even Hinata is willing to join." Sakura inputted seeing, Hinatas stricken face. Hinatas eyes got wide at the thought. She began to imagine different scenarios with Naruto and that made her heart race from the thought at being around him, especially in her swimsuit. She didn't know if her heart could take it. She felt her face become beet red and she began to feel light headed. Suddenly she couldn't see what was in front of her face, she felt her head hit cold water and hear mumbling voices that became unclear. 'Why do I always have to do this?' She thought. 'I promised to get better with being around him, but it seems to only get worse. I wish, I wish...' She couldn't finish her thought till she passed out completely.


	3. A Confession

Finally a third chapter! Wohoo!

* * *

Hinata could feel herself coming to, she began hearing voices again coming from the outside. She slowly could feel the wind and sun on her face and hear Naruto's voice along with the others, but Naruto's sounded closer. She felt sick to her stomach and fluttered her eyes open and started coughing up some water.

"Hinata! Are you alright?" Naruto asked frantically.

Her eyes blurred a bit and saw Neji out of the corner of her eye, push Naruto aside as he was afraid what might happen.

"Hinata-sama ill take you back to the campground," Neji stated.

"But Neji I thought you were going to swim and hang with me today," Tenten complained.

Neji looked up and looked conflicted with the idea of leaving and hanging with Tenten.

Hinata noticed the conflict in his eyes and decided that she could handle herself.

"I'll walk back by myself, it's no big deal," As she stood up she felt shaky and her knees wobbled a little before she straightened herself. She could feel the discomfort and the eyes of her friends on the back of her head as she walked away. She still felt slightly dizzy but kept walking on.

"Hinata wait!" Naruto's loud voice stopped her in her tracks.

"I'll walk you back."

"Naruto I don't think that's a good idea," Neji told Naruto skeptically.

"It's my fault, so I should walk her back."

Everyone stared at Naruto but didn't say anything. Tenten looked at Neji as if to say 'don't you dare disagree and grabbed his arm to make it more obvious. Neji sighed at Tenten and finally agreed as to please her. Naruto then jogged to catch up with Hinata and they went off. Naruto could sense the presence of eyes on his back, no doubt to make sure he didn't do anything stupid to Hinata to cause another problem. Soon enough they had walked far enough along the path that he couldn't feel it anymore and he felt more relaxed. He looked over at Hinata and could see her head turned the opposite direction so as not to look at him.

"It's a nice day out huh?" Naruto asked.

No response.

Naruto put his hand behind his head and scratched his head to think of something else to say. 'Damn it. Why wasn't I any good at coming up with things to say to her?' He questioned himself. Then a sudden light bulb went on in his head.

"Have you learned any new jutsu's lately?"

Still no response.

"Hinata..." He trailed off with his sentence and stared at her, feeling glum.

"N-n-naruto-kun..." Hinata finally managed to spit out and continued, "You didn't need to come with me back to the c-camp. I d-d-didn't want to be a h-hindrance to the fun."

Naruto looked down to the ground as they were slowly walking.

"But I sort of did want to walk back with you," Naruto said sheepishly, realizing what he said was true.

While walking he slowly got closer and touched her shoulder to get her attention. Hinata felt the pressure on her shoulder and stopped in her tracks as Naruto walked a couple paces ahead of her. Naruto looked back to see Hinata's head down and a hint of pink on her face and he slowly walked back to be in front of her. Hinata could feel his presence and her body immediately backed up a couple steps with her head facing the ground. 'I can't do this anymore,' She thought. Her face was pink and a tear strolled down her face. She didn't think it would come to this but it did.

"Hinata are you alright?" Naruto asked with concern in his voice.

"No...I-I'm not." Hinata looked up to face him, with his blue eyes looking back at her, his face scrunched up in a worried expression. She thought 'this isn't usually like him. He shouldn't be worried over something so frivolous'.

"I-I-I've had...feelings for you for years...and y-you've never caught on. I-I-I-I like you a lot Naruto." She managed to finally say.

She took a step back and realized what she had been wanting to say since forever. She looked at Naruto to see his face looking stunned. Her heart began to race again and her eyes got wide. She moved forward and picked up speed and ran right past the shocked and motionless Naruto and she didn't want to look back, she couldn't. Her feet picked up more speed until she felt like she was flying with her long purple hair flowing behind her and soon enough she was back at the campground. She ran into the girls tent and buried her face in her pillow and her face became wet with more tears as she couldn't help herself. Her mind was racing at 100 miles per hour. She couldn't think straight. She finally said what has been on her mind since she was a little girl. Yet she felt incredibly stupid because he didn't give a response to her statement. She turned upright to stare at the ceiling of the tent and the tears eventually stopped and her eyes felt puffy and red. Her eyes got droopy from the crying and drifted off to sleep when her mind was exhausted from over thinking with different scenarios, hoping that it would be okay in the end.

* * *

Naruto just stood wide-eyed and shocked, unsure what to say to Hinata. His mind was blank and couldn't think, this had never happened to him before. He felt a rush of wind pass him and soon after he was sent into darkness and landed in a pool of shallow water and he lay there unsure what to do next.

**"Naruto get the fuck up!"** the Kyuubi growled at him from behind bars.

Naruto slowly sat up and stared blankly at the glaring eye of the fox.

**"Snap out of it. You should have seen this coming."**

Naruto blinked a couple times and came to his senses.

"Wait seriously? How would I have seen this coming?" Naruto glared back at the Kyuubi.

**"You're so thick skulled Naruto!"** The Kyuubi screamed, making a deafening sound.

"Shut up stupid fox!" Naruto yelled.

**"You're the stupid one!**" The Kyuubi yelled back at him.

"Gahh! So why am I back here in the first place?!" Naruto spat at the Kyuubi angrily.

**"You are back here because I wanted to gloat and tell you I was fucking right!"** The Kyuubi started laughing creating ripples in the water.

"Ahh you're such an immature fox!" Naruto pointed his finger accusingly.

**"You're just a brat that can't admit his feelings to a person unless it's Sakura who doesn't even like you. Heck she punches and hits you and yet you chase after her like a puppy.**" The fox snickered at the memories.

"Can't you just leave that alone?" Naruto stammered, yet the Kyuubi had a good point which he wasn't ready to admit.

**"No, so I can't stand back and watch you being confused with your feelings. So you're going to tell her you like her too."** The Kyuubi stated.

"And why should I?" Naruto questioned.

**"Cause you're NARUTO UZUMAKI! You are a flamboyant, annoying, and obnoxious teenager but you are not afraid to show your feelings."** The Kyuubi had a good point but he still wasn't sure about the idea.

"Wait why am I getting advice from you? You don't know anything about relationships." Naruto asked.

**"Because I have been in many jinjuriki's and have seen how this works. And you suck at it."** The fox replied snarkily.

Naruto narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms and said "Says you..." Under his breath, making a poor excuse.

**"Okay well look kid, you need to give her an answer before the end of this weird camping trip because she took a huge risk in telling you her feelings."** The fox looked down at Naruto making sure he got the message.

Naruto sighed at what he had to do thanks to the dang fox. The Kyuubi heard the faint sigh and added, **"or you can have it be awkward between you two forever."**

"No I don't want that." Naruto said sadly.

**"Then get your ass moving and tell her."** And with that said the room faded out once again and Naruto was back standing in the pathway.

He turned around to see Hinata long gone and decided it was best to leave Hinata alone for awhile, even though he has a task ahead of him. He was still in his swimsuit and headed back to the beach to join the others. He greeted the others once back and splashed into the water and played their little game. To the side Naruto saw Neji and Tenten playing together and being cutesy about it and thought of what could be if he made up his mind of his feelings.

"Earth to Naruto!" A voice chimed into his thoughts. He saw Choji and lee looking at him strangely.

"Sorry guys haha." He laughed half heartily.

Lee and Choji looked at each other and shrugged, thinking nothing of it. Naruto decided to put his mind to rest and play with his friends and have a good time. Forgetting everything for a couple hours till the end of the day. The gang headed back to the campground, all feeling physically and mentally exhausted from the sun and how much went on. When they got back, a fire was already going and Naruto figured Hinata had already eaten and gone to bed. It was a good thing cause he wasn't ready for anything yet. He ate with the guys and made sure to go to bed before them since he didn't want to deal with his tent-mates. He fell fast asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow and slept soundlessly- or so he had hoped.


	4. Game Time

This chapter was quite fun to write. Hope you guys enjoy!

* * *

Naruto woke with a start, he had a bundle of dreams that night dealing with what his head an heart was telling him about the Hinata situation. Or it could had been the Kyuubi's fault in dreaming of this.

"Damn fox," He mumbled.

He looked around the tent to see his roommates still asleep. He yawned and rubbed his sleepy eyes, stood up and quietly walked out of the tent. The smell of smoke overwhelmed him as well as the smell of bacon and eggs. He saw Sakura and Hinata both up and cooking breakfast.

"Morning Sakura-chan, Hinata-chan," he said happily.

Both the girls had their backs to him till he greeted them. Sakura turned around and said a hello back while Hinata still faced forward. He noticed that her body went rigid and stopped what she was doing.

"Sakura...I-I'm going to go get m-more f-firewood," she stumbled.

"Uh okay," Sakura replied even though she saw that they had plenty of wood to keep the fire going.

"Hinata wait..." Naruto called after her but Hinata had got up and fast walked into the woods so that he didn't have time to say anymore. Sakura saw the gloomy look on his face and got curious.

"Did something happen between you two Naruto?" Sakura inquired.

"Umm...no not reeeaaaaalllyy," Naruto had a bead of sweat coming down his face as Sakura interrogated him.

"Well that wasn't nothing. You better spill it Naruto," Sakura threatened. She got up from where she was sitting and got in his face. Naruto ran his hand through his hair, trying to come up with an excuse.

"Look Sakura for once can you just leave it alone? It's none of your business," Naruto stated sternly.

"Excuse me?" Sakura looked flabbergasted.

"Yeah please?" Naruto pleaded.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at Naruto, glaring at him. At that time Kiba and Sai both appeared and noticed the tension in the air between the two of them.

"Whoa whoa what's going on here?" Kiba asked curiously.

"Nothing," Naruto spat.

"Jeez Naruto, no need to get your balls in a twist," Sai said with one of his fake smiles.

Naruto glared at Sai and he figured he had enough with this shit. 'Will I ever catch a break?!' He thought to himself.

Fumed with annoyance from both Sakura and Sai, he stormed off into the woods leaving all three of them watching him go. He got far enough into the forest where he eventually found a tree that looked like it could hold his weight, so he built up chakra in his feet and ran up the tree and got on a thick branch and sat down. From how high he was up he could just barely make out the lake in the distance. He leaned up against the tree and scenery seemed to relax him a bit. A small breeze brushed past him and whistled in his ear. Naruto began to think over his current situation since it was nagging at his brain. A thought that would not shut up. 'Should I tell her?' 'How should I tell her?' 'I don't know what I should do…'

"Gahhhh!" Naruto yelled out loud. "Neji is right…I do suck at this." Naruto put his head down and felt ashamed of himself. 'I wish I had known earlier' he thought again. He heard a rustle coming from down below him. He looked down and saw Hinata walking back towards the campsite with a bundle of sticks in her arms. Naruto immediately got up, dusted himself off and jumped down from the tree. Hinata was a couple paces in front of him so he called out her name to get her attention.

"Hinata!" Naruto shouted.

When Hinata heard his voice she jumped a little and her heart stopped. She couldn't face him. Not yet anyways. She kept walking on with him following close behind. 'Don't look back. It'll just make the pain worse than it already is' she thought. Hinata bit her lip at the memory of exposing her heart filled secret and him saying nothing in return. She didn't know why she said it suddenly, it just sort of slipped out. She felt stupid. She knew she should give him a chance to say something but couldn't.

"Hinata I have to tell you -" Naruto was cut off when they entered the campsite. Hinata jogged farther away and put the pile of wood down by the fire. Naruto sighed and walked slowly to the fire where food was now being served.

"Wow this is amazing Sakura-chan!" Lee said enthusiastically.

"Yes very," Shino added quietly.

Everyone was sitting around the fire and nodded their approval whilst stuffing their faces with deliciousness. The smell of bacon and eggs was overwhelming and it hit Naruto and made his stomach growl. He grabbed some food and made himself comfy while eating to his hearts content.

After breakfast was done, everyone looked tired again from stuffing themselves - except Lee.

"Hey guys, I have an idea!" He said excitedly. The group looked in Lee's direction expecting him to say more.

"Let's play a game," He continued. He quickly went into one of the tents and grabbed two bells. At the sight of the bells everyone groaned.

"Lee we are still full. I for one don't want to get sick on this trip," Ino said while patting her stomach.

"But you can work it off," Lee explained, jingling the bells in his hand. There was a group sigh and they all thought about it and some agreed.

"Fine, but who is going to have the bells?" Kiba asked and Akamaru barked agreement.

"Hmmm-I think Neji should start off with them," Lee decided.

"Why Neji?" Sai asked.

"Because he is known to be a genius and it sounds like more of a challenge," Lee stated and gave Neji a thumbs up good guy pose that Guy sensei would usually do. Lee went up and handed them to Neji. He took them and mumbled 'this should be interesting'.

"Oh this should be fun and easy," Tenten whispered and giggled.

"Tenten you're such a flirt," Sakura said with a smirk on her face. Tenten stuck out her tongue in response.

"Tenten it isn't going to be that easy," Neji smirked at her.

"Ok guys don't get too far ahead of yourselves. There's still people around," Ino interrupted Neji and Tenten's inter-monologue. "Can we just start the game now?"

"Well you can count me out of this one," Shikamaru said and Choji and Shino nodded that they too didn't want to participate. Naruto glanced around to see who was all going to play and noticed Hinata was one of them. Naruto's eyes widened 'Perfect' he thought.

Neji was in the center of everyone and when Shikamaru, Choji, and Shino left, Neji disappeared and one by one the group disappeared to hide in a spot. Hinata was the last to leave along with Naruto and when she glanced in his direction, she noticed he was staring at her and when she made eye contact she ran in the opposite direction and flashed away, leaving Naruto to flash in a different spot. Hinata moved behind a bush and tried to see if she could find her cousin, she whispered 'byakugan' and her vision enhanced. She finally spotted her cousin hiding behind a large tree covered with thick dense foliage. He was a couple feet ahead across a wide open field. So she jumped up into the nearest tree and in no time she was above Neji. Some movement caught her eye-still in byakugan mode and saw Tenten appear behind him and grabbed his shoulder.

"Gotcha Neji-kun!" Tenten laughed and smiled with joy.

POOF! A could of smoke and Neji disappeared once more, leaving a log in his place with the substitution jutsu.

"Ugh damn it. I will get you Neji Hyuga!" Tenten yelled into the air, hoping he would hear her frustration. She disappeared once again in pursuit, leaving Hinata waiting up in the tree trying to search for the real Neji.

A couple minutes past and the wind started picking up whipping her hair in her face. Hinata scanned behind her, still no sign of her cousin. She saw a couple chakra networks in some spots around but none where of Neji. She decided then to move to a different spot and crawled onto the grass which thankfully was taller than her. Suddenly she heard a loud "RASENGAN" not far from where she was. Hinata faced toward the sudden sound and saw Naruto fighting Neji. 'Wow he has gotten stronger and faster to find Neji quickly she thought and blushed at the thought. She shook her head she couldn't be thinking about that right now. She watched them battle and sure enough this was the true real Neji this time. Naruto brought out his kunai knife and shuriken, trying to make Neji jump and dodge, hoping that he would drop the bells. But sadly it was fastened tightly to his shirt and didn't fall off no matter how Naruto threw them. She saw Naruto getting closer and made a clone of himself and made his rasengan once more. He ran at Neji and just managed to touch a bell but at the last minute Neji used one hand and used the Gentle fist on him, thus blasting him and Naruto skidding in the dirt a couple feet away. She then saw another chakra network coming from above Neji and it turned out to be Rock Lee. Neji looked up at the last moment and Lee came down performing his leaf whirlwind and he made a cloud of dust. When the dust cleared away she saw Neji in his stance looking at Lee who made a small hole in the ground. Lee then proceeded to with a series of kicks and punches which missed and tried to knock him down by extending his leg to trip him which Neji backed away from that as to not fall. She figured now was the time to join in the fight and she started running towards Neji. She saw Ino, Tenten, Sakura, Kiba and Akamaru join her as well coming from different directions and saw Sai further ahead drawing his animals that came to life. Sai's tiger got to Neji and Neji blocked it and it dissolved back into ink. Neji turned around and saw all of them coming at once and Hinata got into close enough range where she used the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Wall Palm and managed to blast him backwards. Neji covered his face and landed on his back, managing to reduce the attack a little bit. Kiba and Akamaru did piercing fang and Neji swerved out of the way before they hit the ground.

Naruto was back on his feet and after Hinata's attack he came alongside her and managed a couple kicks here and there until Neji started blocking them. With all these people coming at him, he decided to use trigrams palms revolving heaven and a swirl of wind gusted around Neji covering a large distance and the group flew backwards into the grass and some into the trees. Hinata skidded and her back hit a large tree making a thump which knocked the breath out of her, black dots danced across her vision as she tried to catch her breath. There was another skidding noise next to her and saw Naruto skid through the grass and back farther into the trees, leaving a trail of bent over grass behind. She glanced behind the tree and saw him get up and once he saw her he made his way over to her. Hinata's eyes got wide as Naruto lent her his hand, hinting for her to take it to help her up. She blushed pink when she took it and stood up and said a quiet thank you to him in which he smiled in return. She then turned around to return to the field where Neji was still on defense from the others. A hand landed on her shoulder and she stopped and turned around to face Naruto.

"Hinata I need to talk to you about what happened," Naruto said.

"T-there's nothing t-to talk about," Hinata replied.

"You can't keep avoiding it," Naruto said seriously. Hinata looked down, she wasn't in the mood for this.

"What's done is d-d-done, I shouldn't have said it," Hinata said sadly.

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"Just f-forget about it," Hinata felt like a jerk for saying that but she did.

She slowly backed away from Naruto and his hand slipped from her shoulder, letting it fall back to his side. Hinata turned around and walked away and felt a tear roll down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away 'I'm so weak, this isn't the time…I can't keep avoiding this forever' she thought and gathered speed and ran out back into the field where her cousin was still protecting the bells.


	5. Full Moon Part 1

Sorry for the late update, I had a writers block and wasn't sure how to do this chapter. But it is now finished! And I hope you like it :)

*I know it's a bit short, but this is only part 1!*

Enjoy!

* * *

'This was utterly ridiculous. Why wouldn't Hinata let him explain?' Naruto thought. He could tell the Kyuubi was getting frustrated at him for not confessing already because his thoughts were constantly being interrupted from time to time, which annoyed the crap out of Naruto. 'I'm trying…I really am' Naruto inwardly thought. 'Hinata was just being unusually stubborn.'

It was the day after the bell snatching game, having Tenten (obviously) and Lee ending up with the bells after several hours trying to get them. Hinata was still trying to avoid him whatever the cost. He could tell that the rest of the group was growing suspicious of the two of them because of their actions toward each other. The teammates were scattered around the camp, emerged in their own personal conversations with one another. Naruto saw Hinata being confronted by Sakura and Ino and watched her move away with them.

"Hinata, can you come over here for a moment?" Sakura asked. Hinata nodded and moved behind one of the tents for more privacy where Ino was waiting.

"Something wrong?" Hinata asked quietly.

"Yes there I-" Ino started.

"What's with you and Naruto?!" Sakura chimed in, covering the rest of Ino's sentence. Hinata's eyes went big and her cheeks flushed a light shade of pink.

"I-it's nothing," Hinata mumbled under her breath.

"Well its something, so spill it," Sakura said. A shadow crossed Hinata's face and she looked down at her feet to avoid their gazes.

"It's no big deal…I just confessed to N-naruto-kun a couple days ago…" Hinata trailed off.

Sakura and Ino looked at her and squealed out of excitement out of what this could mean. Hinata's head shot up and she covered their mouths to keep them quiet. Sakura reached and grabbed Hinata's shoulders and made herself calm down before continuing.

"Aaaaannnnddd?!"

"Nothing happened, I ran after that. I-I was too embarrassed to say such a thing and have him say nothing in return," Hinata concluded sadly.

"WHAT?!" Ino yelled, completely shocked. Sakura let go of Hinata and held out her fist, threatening Naruto silently.

"That dumb-ass idiot!" Sakura said, trying to control her anger and frustration.

"You'd think he'd have enough brains to say something back. That dead brained idiot," Ino spat out.

"Please don't say anything about this to anyone. I-I don't want the others to hate him because of this small thing," Hinata pleaded.

"Hinata, this is not something small. You actually confessed your love and he said nothing," Sakura said. But Sakura and Ino looked at each other and silently agreed anyway to keep it quiet.

After that was over, Hinata walked back out from behind the tent and went to sit down next to Neji who was sitting next to Tenten and Lee, who was doing a thousand hand stand push-ups. She looked at her cousin who was chatting away with Tenten excitedly talking about something. She admired her cousin a lot and she realized that she had never seen him smile this much around anyone else. She was happy that Neji found someone he truly cares about and had gotten very close to Tenten over this excursion together. She felt a twinge of jealously looking at them so close together. Tenten has always been a good friend of hers and was glad she liked Neji. He was a great guy most of the time. Heck, might as well call it official that they were dating. Her thoughts drifted off to Naruto and her possibly dating. The thought created butterflies in her stomach but she quickly dismissed them at the probably that he still liked Sakura. 'I bet that's what he was going to say to me the other day' she thought and suddenly had no appetite to eat anything. The thought was just too depressing to think about.

"Oi Hinata," Kiba shouted from where he was sitting next to Shikamaru and Akamaru. "What's wrong? You had a look of depression for a moment."

Hinata looked up and put on a forced smile, "I'm alright, thank you though." That had seemed to convince him somewhat and he went back to talking quietly. She heard Akamaru bark to Kiba and his eyes lit up. "You're right! We all should!"

"Should what?" Shino asked.

"There is a full moon tonight, we should all go. It'll be worth it. There has got to be a lookout spot or something around here," Kiba said excitedly.

"Of course, it's dog-boy who wants to go look at the moon," Sai said from behind his easel, painting….whatever it was.

"Shut up Sai you ass," Kiba growled at him.

"Ooh I'm so scared," Sai mocked with a fake smile plastered on his face.

"You are so asking for it," Said an enraged Kiba.

"I don't want whatever I may asking for," Sai replied calmly.

"You can be so sick you know that?" Kiba said with a disturbed look on his face.

"You're the one that thought of something bad," Sai turned away and droned out the rest of what Kiba was saying and kept painting. By that time, everyone stopped talking, overhearing the loud conversation.

"Actually Kiba that sounds like a good idea since we've only got two more days left of this trip. I do know a spot that Tsunade-sama showed me that's a half an hour away from here that would be perfect," Sakura chimed in. That earned some eager and not-so-eager expressions from the group.

"How troublesome," Shikamaru groaned.

"You're definitely going now," Ino glared at Shikamaru. Shikamaru hung his head and mumbled "fine". With a satisfying look on Ino's face, everyone decided that they might as well go. Sakura smiled and walked off into the woods to check on the location. Hinata thought to later that night. It'll be so beautiful' she thought. Naruto, who was sitting by his tent watching the scene unfold figured it might be a good chance. He looked over at Hinata who was smiling at something in her head.

**"Naruto you are going to do it tonight right?"** The Kyuubi interjected again.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Yes if she lets me this time."

**"Don't roll your eyes at me you brat,"** The Kyuubi growled at him.

"Whatever," Naruto snorted.

**"Your nervous aren't you?"**

Naruto stayed silent and ignored that stupid question. The Kyuubi started laughing with a menacing tone to the mix which sent shivers down Naruto's spine.

"Shut up you arrogant fox," Naruto shouted.

**"Oh I can't wait for tonight,"** The fox smirked and his laughing began to fade in the background and the conversation ended and Naruto was left alone to his thoughts.

He had to plan this out just right. It's got to be perfect. Naruto honestly did feel nervous, he just wouldn't admit it. Ever since Hinata confessed to him, he started noticing her more and more and how much he has been missing and denying himself of a sweet girl who never punched him, instead she encouraged and stood up for him when no one else would. He just needed to tell her that and see where things went from there. His stomach felt like it was all twisted up-in a good way- and he needed to walk it off. Naruto stood up and walked silently from the group and went the opposite direction from Sakura. As soon as he was covered by foliage, he ran to an open space to think and relax before tonight.


End file.
